As a non-American, my knowledge of the American presidents throughout history is limited at best, and it must be said that it has been influenced by modern popular opinions of past presidents. I know a bit about the "big" ones (Washington, Franklin, Lincoln, FDR), but even that is probably inaccurate and overly generalised. I understand you have to be pretty exceptional and charismatic to become the president of the U.S, by there seems to be a lot of hype and almost "cults of personality" around more than a few.
My question is aimed to find out how many American presidents actually live up to their great reputations? How many really did do amazing things for the United States (or even the world), be it socially, culturally, economically, or by any other standard? Are there any that have a great reputation or public image that they don't really deserve or that is blow out of realistic proportion? Are there any presidents that did an excellent job but "flew under the radar", and thus don't have the reputation for greatness or achievement that maybe they should?
I'm not looking to offend anyone with this question, and I'm not looking for any hyperbolic, over-patriotic answers either. I'm just trying to sort out fact from the modern populist jingoism that seems to be all to common in the media and on the internet these days (at least when I try to research this topic). I'm looking for some informed, objective opinions from people with the education and knowledge to know about this topic to help point an outsider in the right direction. Thanks.
Well, your first issue in understanding the matter might be that Franklin was never president--understandable error, though, because we talk about him all the time.
As to other big names, I'll leave the rest to those more knowledgeable on their eras, but I do want to say that Washington is an interesting case, at least as he was presented by my profs in upper-level classes. He's one of a very few individuals in history who lived up to the hype both at the time and since. Just about everyone who knew him pretty much agreed that he was, if not a total saint, then at least a generally decent, hardworking, trustworthy guy who could be given power without fear. The Revolution almost wound up with him becoming king--he turned it down. That alone says a lot about a man who lived in a time when kings were the only thing going, and the opportunity to become one (semi-)legitimately only passed to a very few individuals. As a general, he was ok, as a politician, he was decent, as a statesman he was outstanding.